For those paying attention, yes, I did skip posting a couple of paintings, and yes, I haven't been keeping up with my daily paintings, but have been working on some 30 x 40 acrylic paintings.  I still love painting in oils, and still love the small 5 x 7 canvases, so here is today's painting. Currently, I'm trying to work on the challenges on Daily Paintworks (It helps to have a ready-made idea).

This challenge was to paint with 4 colors of paint.  I love painting with a limited pallete. I do this often and use only alizarin crimson, cad yellow, ultramarine blue and titanium white. It’s simplifies the color mixing process and I’m learning just how many different colors can be made from the primary colors.  When my schedule is less hectic, I plan to paint plen air and want to carry around only the necessities and this is great practice.

This is the third in my trio of paintings started over the weekend.  It's been a very nice few days of painting and I hope I will have more time later in the week.  I've already collected some fall leaves I want to paint. Next to flowers, clouds are one of my favorite things to paint and this is from a picture taken on the west coast at the end of a stormy day. 5 x 7 inches.
 

 I'm still working with my limited palette and I must say getting earth tones right is a challenge.  For this piece, I started with a vacation picture a friend posted on Facebook and set the scene later in the evening as the last of the light is dying. Maybe one day I can be out there painting from life, and then working with a very limited palette with make life easier. 5 x 7 inches

My painting journey has taken me to the Northwest Coast today to work on my rock formations with some new paint recipes for browns.  

5 x 7 inches

I am finishing out my week of waves with this stormy, late day scene.  7 x 5 inches.

Yes, it's another wave.  This time it's the type of wave that surfer's wait for.  That high curling wave that they can ride to shore. 5 x 7 inches.

I chose this set of waves for the drama of the cresting wave that's the center of interest.  I wish I could be at the beach watching the waves myself, but painting them is the next best thing.  5 x 7 inches

Ok, I'm obsessed with waves at the moment.  Today's reference was taken at Carolina Beach on a sunny, clear day and there were reflections of the cresting waves in the water.  There is so much to learn and master. 5 x 7 inches

I'm fascinated by the structure of the waves and excited about furthering my skill at rendering realistic waves.  I can see the shadows and know in my head how I want it to look, but it's so hard to get that down in paint.  I want you to hear the ocean when you look at the painting, whether it's a soft thrum of steady waves or the roar of water crashing on the beach. 5 x 7 inches.

I wanted to paint with blue and green today, so a wave study was the perfect subject.  5 x 7 inches.